


Dinner time at the Inuzuka's

by J_animelover6



Series: Anecdotes of the lives of child soldiers [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Adorable, Alternate Universe, Children, Dinner, Dogs, Family Dinners, Family Fluff, Gen, Insanity, Pre-Canon, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:36:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26492041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_animelover6/pseuds/J_animelover6
Summary: What do you get when you mix a bunch of puppies, hungry children and chicken pie together?Chaos. Absolute chaos.Good thing the Inuzukas are used to it.
Relationships: Akamaru & Inuzuka Hana, Inuzuka Hana & Inuzuka Kiba, Inuzuka Hana & Inuzuka Kiba & Inuzuka Tsume
Series: Anecdotes of the lives of child soldiers [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924894
Kudos: 6





	Dinner time at the Inuzuka's

The wind howled through the trees, ripping off any of the remaining colourful leaves that had been clinging on to the branches for dear life and then abandoned them on the ground once it had jostled them to its heart's content. Oh, the power it gained in Autumn. 

"Go get the stick boy! Go get it!" 

And if that wasn't awful enough, the leaves would spend the rest of their short days being trampled on alongside their fallen brethren. 

"Come on _Akamaru._ You're the one who's supposed to fetch the stick. Not me." A shaggy-haired boy grumbled, glaring at his puppy who simply laughed at him and wagged his tail. 

"Don't you laugh at me - " This made Akamaru yip even louder, "Ey! I mean it. Now fetch!" The young boy exclaimed but his puppy wouldn't listen and so with a huff, he went to go and retrieve the stick he had just thrown. 

Had he angered the moon deity in a previous life or something to have been paired with such a cheeky dog? 

Akamaru hardly ever did anything he ordered him to do, unless food was involved.

It wasn't fair! Hana's dogs were obedient and loyal and let's not forget to mention that she had _three,_ while he only had one. Of course that had just come down to the luck of the draw during her Pairing ceremony and the fact that she was the Clan Heiress, but still, he was going to be an epic hunter Shinobi one day and therefore deserved a pack of well-oiled war machines.

He flopped down into a nearby pile of leaves that someone had so conveniently swept up and placed there just for him, and traced the purple tattoos on his cheeks that identified him as being an official member of the Inuzuka Clan. They were still relatively new, he had only had them for about half a year, as his Pairing ceremony had been at the beginning of Spring. Most were.

He had been so excited and nervous, standing there in the middle of the forest in a perfect line with four of his cousins, who were also getting matched with their canine partners, and all the adults of his Clan had surrounded them in a semi-circular formation. His mother had even managed to be there.

One by one they had been called up to the moonlit stone platform by a wrinkly old guy dressed in furs, a deerskin skirt and nothing else. He had then sprinkled water mixed with ashes on top of their heads, mumbled something to the moon deity that shone down upon them and then motioned for the bitches to bring in their newest pups. The oldest one had only been a month old. Then, the climax, the pairing of Ninken and Inuzuka, began. Anticipation had boiled in the air as the puppies and their mothers inspected each of them thoroughly and then came to their decisions. 

"Kiba! Time to come inside." A woman hollered and her voice echoed throughout the forest like a roar of an enraged Bijuu. A flock of birds escaped into the air and away from whatever monster was approaching. 

Kiba ignored his mother and continued reliving the most exhilarating, yet nail-biting and terrifying night of his life while burying himself under the leaves like a hippo in the mud. 

He had been the first one to be chosen, Akamaru had laid down at his feet and his mother had licked his forehead in approval. Then, to signify his acceptance of the decision and his allegiance to his Clan, purple fangs were etched into his skin, one on each cheek. It had been painful but he had not cried...that much. 

"Kiba don't pretend you didn't hear me!" His mother yelled again, it sounded like she was outside of the house now.

For a short moment, he wondered if he should just go to her now and save himself the lecture, but then again he didn't think there was any point as he was going to get one whether he came home at that instant or much later. So why bother?

"Inuzuka Kiba bring your butt here right now or else you're not going to get any supper!" 

Of course, if his dinner, which was steak and kidney pie tonight, was on the line then he'd move so fast that the Yellow Flash would look slower than a drunk tortoise. 

"Come Akamaru." He called frantically but the dog was already speeding ahead of him. Abandoning him to face his fate alone. 

"Some partner you are," Kiba muttered while ripping through the bushes and creating himself a short cut.

The lecture he got was his usual: _insolent little brat._ Bla Bla Bla _Why can't you just listen? Stop being such a disobedient child._ Grumble, grumble, curse. _I called you multiple times! Are you deaf?_ Bla. Bla. Bleep. 

And then, of course, the final muttered blow, _Your sister was never this difficult._

It shouldn't have stung as much as it did, the comment wasn't meant for him to hear, besides he knew, deep down, he was a difficult child. He would've been brain dead if the multiple lectures and reprimands that had been handed out to him like candy over the years, to have not wormed into his brain. They were always about the same things. Not listening, disrupting, ignoring, disobeying, yadda yadda yadda. So tiring and boring. Which was why he shut his ears off, pulled his fur-lined hood over his head and immersed himself in the noise of his mind; a violent summer storm. A monsoon of other-worldly proportions. 

He glanced up at his mother as they entered through the kitchen doorway, her face was still twisted by anger and a snarling mutt with rabies lunged at him from her eyes. She stalked across the kitchen, almost tripping over the wrinkled patched-grey dog that lay by the coal stove trying to absorb its warmth (if Nanshu could, he would climb into the oven) and made herself a cup of instant coffee - an omen of her murderous mood. She preferred the expensive, freshly ground, plunger, hot-black-sludge-of-joy. Aka fancy coffee. Not, _watered-down-dog-shit,_ as she often declared the instant stuff to be. So when she did drink it, the entire household ensured to vanish into thin air, or tip-toe through broken glass around her.

The tensed silence between them required a chainsaw to cut through it, and that chainsaw was a horde of puppies being chased by a red-faced Hana. 

"Sorry, mom. Chewed. Through. Enclosure...again." The young teenage girl huffed, a napkin wrapped around her head and a stained apron on. (She had been _trying_ to bath the month-old litter, but judging by how her clothes were splattered with water and bubbles and that the puppies were covered in mud, things hadn't gone successfully.)

Then Hana noticed the mug clenched in her mother's fist, it read: _**Friday**. My second favourite **F** word, _in neat black print and it had angry frog eyes painted on the bottom. The second sign. 

Hana shot a 'what did you do now?' expression at her brother, who just scowled and stuck his tongue out at her. Which she mimicked. 

"Kiba," Tsume warned, flicking leisurely through the Konoha Daily News. Another hint at her mood. She hated reading the News.

The boy bit hard down on his tongue, so to not push his mother any further. Those pies smelt heavenly. And sat down with a huff. 

"You'll be feeding the dogs tonight." She stated, allowing no room for argument, and set her now empty mug on the counter before leaving the kitchen and going elsewhere. (Likely the training field or her bedroom.)

Kiba groaned.

Unlike all the other main/dominant Clans, the Inuzuka did not have any servants or employed help, instead, there was a roster of daily tasks that were rotated between the different Inuzuka families (otherwise known as packs) that made up the Clan. Extra chores were given as punishment or as a way to build character. They varied from, washing the dishes, mopping the floors, making the beds to chopping wood, cleaning the kennels and feeding the dogs - this did not refer to their canine familiars, oh no, no, no they ate at the dinner table or under it. She was talking about the rescue dogs, street mutts that they fed, washed, vaccinated and neutered. Then they found them home. It was also the place where injured, young or non-Shinobi Inuzuka kept themselves busy. That or the Vet clinic.

"What did you do?" Hana whispered, sitting down on one of the chewed stools, while Hai, the oldest of the triplets, herded the puppies out of the kitchen with only the barest of help from his brothers. Which annoyed the Ninken.

"Nuffin," Kiba mumbled, hiding his face in his arms and kicking his legs.

He could feel the burn of Hana's stare on his scalp as she patiently waited for the truth. 

"I didn't come when I was called...and I was playing in the back forest." He admitted and braced himself to he chewed out again. His ears half-switched off.

Instead of yelling she just sighed in disappointment. She didn't need to say anything, her posture and facial expression portrayed what she couldn't put into words. _You know you're not supposed to go there. It's not safe and it's sacred ground. No wonder mum was mad. Please don't do it again._ It made him feel worse than a lecture ever did. 

Suddenly there was an outburst of ferocious barking, snarling, and snapping. A dog fight. Kiba couldn't quite understand what was being argued about as he wasn't that good at communicating with any of the other dogs yet, other than Akamaru. The only word he could make out was _chicken._

Hana noticed his confused, scrunched up face and laughed, "You need to practice more, you can't just be able to talk with Akamaru." She teased and then focussed back on the scene outside, two of the younger Ninken were arguing about what they thought supper was going to be. For they both smelled different things. One thought it was going to be curried chicken and the other thought that it was going to be a pastry or fresh bread. Technically they were both right as they're going to be having chicken pie. 

There was a crowd forming around them now, a mixture of Inuzuka clansman and Ninken. Some were trying to separate the two and others were egging them on. It was a tornado of chaos, something that struck daily in the compound and was a source of great entertainment. The Ninken had the strangest and yet most adorable relationships, one second they could be fighting like they were the worst of enemies and the next there were curled up next to each other in a sunny spot; perfect bosom buddies. The two that were fighting out in the yard at that moment were a perfect example of the odd dynamic. 

While Hana tottered about the kitchen, Kiba had his eyes glued on the fight. They nipped at each other's heels, grabbed the other's scruff and pounced on top of each other, all the while snarling and growling. A bystander would have assumed that the two dogs were trying to kill each other, instead of having a sibling-like brawl.

With a final snarled reply Yuki - the white short-haired terrier - zoomed into the kitchen like a cheetah on a sugar-high, and snatched the cooling pie off of the counter, dragged it into the yard and threw it in front of the muscled Rottweiler to prove her point. The pie was completely destroyed, its innards spilling out. And all Kiba and Hana could do was stare with mouths agape and eyes wide. A few moments later, and a scathing comment from Kaito - her Shinobi companion, it dawned on the impulsive dog exactly what she had done. Shame burned brighter on her furry face than all the stars in the sky as she howled apologies. 

"Guess we'll be having cold turkey sandwiches again." Hana chuckled dryly while Kiba murdered Yuki through the glass with his eyes. 

"He's going to pay!" He growled; his stomach's anger heard from his throat.

" _He's_ a girl!" Hana yelled after the boy forming dust clouds with his feet like a cartoon character as he sped into the yard. She silently wished she had a bucket of popcorn to go with the show: her brother getting his ass handed to him by a dog no bigger than a beach ball. 

Ah, yes the life of an Inuzuka was an interesting one.


End file.
